Category: Director’s Messages

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NIGMS Grantee and Council Member Wins Lemelson-MIT Prize

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Congratulations to Carolyn Bertozzi!

We were delighted to learn that this longtime NIGMS grantee, current NIGMS Advisory Council member and former Stetten lecturer has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize  The prize honors technological invention and innovation.

Carolyn is a clear leader in chemical biology and glycobiology whose work extends from very basic studies of chemical reactivity through a variety of applications in biology. In addition, she is a committed teacher and mentor.

Please join me in congratulating her for this award in recognition of her many significant contributions.

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Hearings on Fiscal Year 2011 Budget

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Congressional hearings on the Fiscal Year 2011 President’s budget request for NIH are now under way. The hearing before the House subcommittee that handles NIH appropriations began at 10 a.m. today, and the Senate hearing will take place on May 5. The ultimate outcome will be a bill that appropriates funds for NIH, including NIGMS.

My written testimony and NIH Director Francis Collins’ written testimony on next year’s budget are now available.

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Blogging for One Year!

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Today marks the 1-year anniversary of our conversion of the NIGMS Feedback Loop from a thrice-yearly electronic newsletter into a blog. The year has passed quickly, but I think successfully.

Our inaugural post, Answering Your Recovery Act Questions, was the first of 16 entries related to the Recovery Act, and many of these led to extensive comments and replies. Throughout this extremely fast-paced period, the blog format served us all well: We provided you information in a timely fashion, and you helped us better understand what questions and concerns we needed to address.

The Feedback Loop has also covered many other topics. These are grouped into over 20 categories for easy browsing or searching. As of today, the site includes 86 posts by 28 NIGMS staff members.

During the last year, many people from the scientific community have told me how much they appreciate receiving information from us about NIGMS and NIH. The Feedback Loop is our major outlet for doing this, and we want make it as useful as possible to you and to us. Please don’t hesitate to comment on posts, e-mail me suggestions or other ideas or submit new post topics to the blog’s editor.

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Online Site for Giving Input on Research Training and Career Development Closes Next Week

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Give us your input on the future of NIGMS-sponsored research trainingIn March, I announced the launch of a strategic planning process focused on training and career development. I encourage all stakeholders, including faculty members, postdocs, graduate students, university administrators and government and industry scientists to provide input on this important topic.

One easy way to make your voice heard is through our online form (no longer available). We list several questions that you can respond to anonymously. You don’t have to respond to every question, and you can also make other comments or recommendations.

If you have not yet shared your views, there’s still time—the Web site closes April 21.

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Save the Date: Commemorating the Life and Accomplishments of Ruth Kirschstein

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Ruth Kirschstein, M.D.Since I first wrote about the death of former NIGMS director Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, plans have progressed for a daylong commemorative event on Monday, May 17, at NIH. The program will include several remembrances as well as scientific presentations and posters by recipients of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award.

I will update you when the final program is available.

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New NIH Director’s Initiative on Scientific Workforce Diversity

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NIH recently announced the NIH Director’s Pathfinder Award to Promote Diversity in the Scientific Workforce, a new program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that NIGMS will manage. The program is designed to foster new ways of thinking about initiatives related to scientific workforce diversity. Awards will empower exceptionally creative scientists to develop highly innovative, and possibly transformative, approaches to this complex challenge.

NIH expects to make approximately five awards, each up to $2 million in total costs over a 3-year period. Awardees must commit a substantial portion (generally 30% or more) of their research effort to the funded activities. Also note that letters of intent—which are encouraged but not required—are due by April 5 and that applications are due by May 4.

If you’d like more information, please e-mail Clif Poodry or call him
at 301-594-3900.

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Capitol Hill Briefing on Basic Research

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Investing in Discovery slideLast week, I gave a briefing to congressional staff members and other interested parties about the role of basic science in biomedical research. The event was sponsored by the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research Link to external website and the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus Link to external website.

My talk [PDF] Link to external website, titled “Investing in Discovery: The Impact of Basic Research and the Role of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences,” focused on three themes:

  • The tremendous unity of biology at the molecular level, which enables researchers to use model organisms for discovery and other experiments directed toward uncovering fundamental biological mechanisms;
  • How knowledge of these fundamental mechanisms provides a crucial underpinning for more applied studies relevant to human health and disease; and
  • The role of individuals, particularly scientists relatively early in their careers, in making these discoveries.

I presented these themes in the context of two scientific endeavors:

  • The discovery of telomeres and telomerase, recognized by the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine; and
  • The elucidation of genetic factors in determining the effective dose of warfarin (Coumadin), one of the early successes in pharmacogenomics.

I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to highlight the impact and importance of the research that NIGMS funds.

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Give Us Input for Our Strategic Plan on Training and Career Development

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Give us your input on the future of NIGMS-sponsored research trainingI’m proud of NIGMS’ long and strong commitment to research training and biomedical workforce development. As biomedical research and its workforce needs evolve, we want to be sure that our training and career development activities most effectively meet current demands, anticipate emerging opportunities and help build a highly capable, diverse biomedical research workforce.

To this end, we are beginning to develop a strategic plan focused on research training and career development, and we want your input.

Between March 2 and April 21, you can anonymously submit comments at https://publications.nigms.nih.gov/trainingstrategicplan/.

You can also give us input at one of the regional stakeholder meetings we’re holding in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco between April and June 2010. If you’re a pre- or postdoc, you can participate in a special webinar designed just for you on June 11, 2010.

You don’t need to be an NIGMS grantee to share your thoughts on this important topic. We want to hear from individuals with many different perspectives, so in addition to responding yourself, I encourage you to let others know of these opportunities to offer comments.

As the planning process unfolds, look for updates on the Feedback Loop.

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Conversations with the Scientific Community

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One of my activities as NIGMS director is meeting with members of the scientific community, including leadership groups from scientific societies. These conversations offer a valuable forum for sharing ideas and perspectives, and I find them informative and interesting.

A few weeks ago, for example, I met with the board of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). Link to external web site The group of more than 30 people who visited me in Bethesda ranged from graduate students to senior scientists. We had a spirited dialogue about training and career development, including issues related to the diversity of the scientific workforce, and methods for fostering communication between NIH and the scientific community. I briefly discussed our preparations for a strategic plan on training and career development, which I announced at our recent advisory council meeting.

I’ll do a Feedback Loop post in early March with more details on the strategic planning process, including a request for input.

NIGMS staff and I welcome the opportunity to meet with groups and individuals who would like to know more about the Institute’s activities and plans. To arrange a meeting, feel free to e-mail me at bergj@nigms.nih.gov or NIGMS communications director Ann Dieffenbach at dieffena@nigms.nih.gov.

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Budget News

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On February 1, the President released his budget request for Fiscal Year 2011. The proposed budget for NIH calls for an increase of 3.2% over the Fiscal Year 2010 enacted levels (not including funds associated with the Recovery Act). The proposed budget for NIGMS represents a 3.6% increase over Fiscal Year 2010.

A major contributor to the larger increase for NIGMS compared with NIH overall is that the budget calls for a 6% increase in stipends associated with Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards. NIGMS supports substantially more training positions than the average across NIH.

The release of the President’s budget request is the first step in the appropriations process, which includes Congressional hearings and culminates with the passage and signing of a bill that appropriates funds for NIH.

We recently posted our Financial Management Plan for Fiscal Year 2010. Among the plan’s key elements are increasing the average size of a competing research project grant by approximately 2%, reducing noncompeting awards by 1% and increasing stipends on National Research Service Awards by 1%.